Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1887-05-31
MISCELLANEOUS.
Monthly Auction Trade Jour-
-. nal--MaY, 1887, -

| nal--May, 1901,
ELEVEN EvExrPuL YEARS AGO, MAY FIRST.
we unfurled our net spot cash" rcd flag from
our diminutive headquarters in CHURCH
STREET.
The stock lay scattered around the floor, not
a shelf, table, desk or book, neither paper. pen
nor ink-thc value was under fifty dollars:
Upon this start, without solitary dollar of
capital and forty-fve thousand of old debts of
honor Gong since PAID hanging like black
cloud over.tGe enterprise, and worse than all.
No NAME: With this forlorn and desolatc start,
than which nothing more perfectly desperate
can be imagined, we sold the first year nearly
half a mi1ioli rfrp y.t. H.
You may search the record of fancy and flc-
tion for parallel to the sublime audacity and
confident courtge wifi which that unfinching
band marched forth, from the very ashes of
humiliation and,tegfadatior over tho unnum-
Se:Ci ledger legions up 10 tte top! Commercial
calamities had crept upon us unawarcs and
sudden, and though restoration was swift and
solid and splendid yet it was tempered by ter
rife mental toll and daily deadly grapple of
nerve, sinew and backbone.
!. NeCeT. more GgainH -
No! Not Tor az tho love, the wealth and sun
shine of this bright and beaS:.'t:I world, or for
the hope of Heaven bcyondI -. eHr
And are he results aooral the trial. ~
If this author is living tho answer will come
eieUeTl gears hence.
Menwho have thus penetrated the awful cav
erns of mercantile pandemonium may well be
called final and decisive authority on the vital
4 and momcntous Issues tl:ruing tiPon early and
certain success. 1t took thirty years. OF this
the war swept away ten, the CREDIT KING and
his Internal barbarian brother CoPARTHER-
SHIP" another ten, then came the big, quick,
high jumps toward annihilation or mastery
Stung to desperation by the rasping severity
of adversely and CALLED by the mercilcss fangs
of insatiate ambition, starting at the dark hour
before ddybredk at zero-we struck the million
line in eleven yearsi
Tho author of these monthlies never tires of
writing the omnipotent remedy-in FIVE words
simple, solid, eoerl1sting- UH-
DERsELL, CASH BEFORE DELIVERY. To them
that will listen and follow, success toiH come
IN a day. those who heed not these danger sig
nails invite defeat, and almost in a twinkling
the shadow of oblivion has covered up their
tracks.
The I" old time rocks >" the '' credit burners,"
the dead beat and "bad debt gang, the
=" bluegrass genius" the "dead and buried
commercial phantom" stood appalled, at the
mOnstrous idea of cutting loose from the drift
GOOD and dead lumber of unlimited time, but it
was with us simply success or annihilation and
we swore We would make room Orwell we
arc here-on the heightsi
This writer would hoistt the pennant Of warm
ing against SPECULATION. If your profess
sion is mercantile, stick to 1t, sacredIy, aud
leave the securities of real estate for those
| whose calling invites this class of assets. AE
teI'Inhile when you have idle money and bills all
paid, 1t is well enough to invest. Within the
walls of 466 and 4G8 lay scattered through de-
partments, values amounting to OSE MILLION,
and, save the little plot of ground on the
daisied slopes in the cemetery, overlooking
HISTORIC OLD WINCHESTER, VIHGrsri, wEete
rest the pcrished loves and hopes OF the long
ago, the proprietor does not own one incl of
ground in all this wide world Our fighting
capital is here on the spot to bid for anything
that demands money down, placing a close,
quick margin on these solid leaders, we can
move them in a day. while the ArkGnSGlc land,
after under water and only visible at long in
tcrvals, canfiot be turned more than once In n
generation. What avail then to the aggressive
spirit of enterprise, these dead securities to
handle the live, solid values that demand the
onnipotent bullion. The mountain
land not worth the taxes or the old homestead
mortgaged to the very hilt and bcyond2
Many the negotiable dishonored and the ir-
remediable disgrace to business reputation, i'm
pairing forever the creditable financial stand
ing simply because the assets were in imnoya-
ble, incOnFertibIe useless drift wood, in the
shape of property-dead and buried beyond
| redemption. Who can number the blasted
hopes and homes day after day because the
proprietor, as soloent as The bank Of England,
instead of bullion has his wealth bound up
turnpikes, saw and cider, grfst and gin mills,
and one-horse railroads, and hotels? An old
concern. that had honored and adorned mer-
camille history, of long standing, proud, aris-
tocratic and swell head, struck by a CONNER
cial cyclone, or stung by the scorpion Of credit,
faIls-the stock for sale fof the highest bid, Int
only for CASH OF what value then, TO him
Cwho in amazemeDt and -sorrow sees in that
chance the golden opportunity Of Iife), his tim
Der land, his live and dead stocks, his deeds of
trust, Vegetables and other worthless waste
paper, valued at penny pound at PREBLE's (?
Come to the metropolis "some day" when
ToPPISG's tragedy of '' The Slaughter is in
full blast and see what you can buy fOr ton
of these dead hopes, ambition, enterprise,
genius. irredeemable pledges, for this lost life
of agony, these ages of mental horror, these
Thousands upon thousands that were atone time
worth their face in gold. - Right
across from the Herald is 'STocKwEIL's'-
the final scenes IN the tragic plays of the
I" "breken-heartslr-Efth millions on the damp